


That I'm Not Telling the Truth

by PapayaK



Category: Psych (TV 2006)
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:34:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23671663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PapayaK/pseuds/PapayaK
Summary: A missing scene for when Chief Vick loses the 'Interim'
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	That I'm Not Telling the Truth

**Author's Note:**

> “Shawn (and Gus) of the Dead” (S2, E16) contains two of my very favorite Psych moments. Shawn goes out of his way to save Karen’s job, and he doesn’t take any credit for it. I just love the little glances between him and Karen at the very end when she realizes it was all him. This is a missing scene for those events.
> 
> It picks up at the end of the previous episode when Henry tells Shawn he’s going to continue to date whether Shawn likes it or not.

oO0Oo

_“And remember—”_ Shawn told him, counting off on his fingers, “ _You treat a woman like a person, and then a princess, and then a greek goddess, and— “_

_“And then a person again,”_ Henry responded softly. He left the ‘I taught _you_ that,’ unspoken.

_“Right…”_ Shawn almost whispered, clearly uncomfortable with this turn of events, _“Okay…”_ And then he left.

oO0Oo

Henry watched Shawn leave.

He regretted putting the kid through this, but he had to grow up sometime. He had to accept that Henry was going to move on with his life, and if that meant dating other women, well… He deserved to be happy too.

It wasn’t until Shawn slammed the door that Henry remembered the _other_ reason he’d called Shawn there that night. He grimaced and went after him.

He opened the door just as Shawn, already seated on his bike, was fastening his helmet. “Shawn!”

His hands stilled on the buckle. “What? Need more dating advice?”

Henry glanced at his shoes for a moment, “No. This is about something else entirely. Something you may _need_ to know.”

Shawn pulled off his helmet. “What?” he demanded, still somewhat angry about the whole thing. He _knew_ he had no right to keep Henry from enjoying his life. He didn’t want that responsibility. He told himself he didn’t care if Henry dated or not. He _really_ didn’t want to know. And he had to admit that he _did_ want his dad to be happy.

“This could affect your future, son,” Henry told him, “I thought you should know.”

Shawn’s eyebrows rose in curiosity. This really was a completely different topic.   
  
Henry continued, “I heard at my poker game the other night that the mayor has decided on Karen’s replacement.” He grimaced at Shawn, “He’s going to toss her out like yesterday’s news.”

Shawn sat back on the Norton as he thought about what that could mean. He had a pretty sweet gig right now. Chief Vick tolerated and sometimes even appeared to appreciate all his shenanigans. He had an incredible amount of respect for the ‘interim’ chief. If someone new took her place he could be in a very unstable position. It could very well be the end of Psych if she was replaced by someone with no tolerance for his unique brand of crime-fighting.

And he liked her personally. He hated the thought of her being replaced. She deserved the position! She was an incredible asset to the SBPD. 

He considered her a friend.

No. Karen Vick would not be replaced if he had anything to say about it. “Who?” He asked his dad.

“Raymond Sauter” Henry told him. “He and the mayor go way back. You’re gonna have a challenge here, kid.” He had defended Karen at the poker game, but the group had been clear: the mayor wanted his old buddy in the position.

Shawn considered, “We’ll see about that.” And he finished putting on his helmet and started the motor.

Henry shouted after him, “Keep your name out of it, Shawn— you don’t want to make things worse for yourself if it doesn’t work!”

As he pulled out of the driveway he called back, “I’ll take care of it.”

And Henry smiled. 

oO0Oo

As it turned out, discrediting Sauter hadn’t been difficult at all. He had already taken care of that himself. Shawn only needed to reveal it to the general public. All it had required was a couple of sleepless nights, and the covert borrowing of Gus’s camera and telephoto lenses.

Once he had the photos, all he had to do was leak them to the press. He knew he had to keep his name out of it. His dad was right about that. But he couldn’t resist crediting the photo to Bruton Gaster. It was just too much fun.

When Karen made her ‘difficult announcement,’ Shawn barely refrained from rolling his eyes. _He_ knew she wasn’t going anywhere. But none of _them_ knew that yet. Lassie and Jules were shocked. They hadn’t even known she was in any danger of leaving. He tried to put them at their ease - he tried to lighten the mood, but they didn’t appreciate it in the least. They thought he was being insensitive.

Then she told them she was stepping down as of Friday! That gave Shawn pause. He had already taken care of everything but he had no way of knowing when the paper would run the story. They had to do their own due diligence and fact check his story. It was a big deal, so he knew they wouldn’t sit on it for too long, but Friday? He couldn’t be sure the story would run _before_ Karen stepped down!

“Chief, are you sure you don’t want to wait it out just a little bit longer?” He asked hopefully, “You never know—”

“No, Mr. Spencer,” she answered.

He tried one last time to get everyone to relax and stop panicking, “Look, Chief, let me just offer that I think you’re a great chief. And, uh, I’m sure things will all work out.” It was all he could do not to tell them right there and then. But, seeing Jules frown at him, he realized he needed to at least pretend that he was just as upset as they. 

The first chance he got, he’d head back to the newspaper and try to light a fire under somebody. In the meantime, he had a case to solve.

And it was a great case! Mummies! A pretty museum curator who laughed at his jokes! And Gus! 

In the end, he got to solve BOTH cases! The missing mummy AND Lassie’s high profile case. 

It was a good day.

Nevermind that they didn’t let him finish his reveal. It was still awesome!

But then he got back to the station and heard all about the farewell party. 

At that point, he’d already seen the paper, its front page announcing Sauter’s disgrace. He’d grabbed one on the way back from the museum. He already knew that Karen’s job was saved. 

Walking into her office, he absolutely could not let himself make eye contact with Gus. If he did, Gus would know immediately that something was up. That would give the whole thing away. He played with Karen’s weird fish sculpture instead. “Are you sure you'll have a use for this?”

He was still trying to lighten the mood, but Karen appeared to be the only one who appreciated his efforts.

Gus certainly didn’t, “Dude! You’re being kind of insensitive!”

Yes, he supposed that was true— IF her job was really in jeopardy. Which it wasn’t. 

“She’ll be fine,” he told Gus a little too dismissively.

Thankfully the phone call from the mayor arrived before anyone could yell at him any more.

And then he got to sit back and watch the celebration. They were all so happy! Because of him! Whether they realized it or not, it was awesome! 

Lassie came in with a copy of the article. 

Knowing that his plan had succeeded, he almost opened his mouth to take credit, but then he saw Karen read the photo byline. Being the smart lady he knew she was, she understood immediately what he had done.

The smile she sent his way that day was all the recognition he needed.

It was definitely a good day.

oO0Oo  
End  
oO0Oo


End file.
